THE ASTRO'S CHEATING SCANDAL LEAVES FANS WONDERING ABOUT PREVIOUS WORLD SERIES OUTCOMES.
By Robert Rios
El Rodeo Staff Writer
El Rodeo Staff Writer
Courtesy of Jerritt Clark | Getty Images
The Houston Astros have been disciplined by the MLB after the league concluded its investigation after allegations accusing the team of using cameras in center field of their home ballpark to steal signs from opposing teams allowing players to know what the pitcher was throwing next going back as far as the 2017 season where they won the World Series.
The league disciplined the team on January 13th by suspending their manager A.J. Hinch and General Manager Jeff Luhnow for a full year, the league also fined the club five million dollars and deprived them of their first and second-round picks in 2020 and 2021. Shortly after the punishments had been handed out the owner they fired both Hinch and Luhnow.
Video has been found that shows that the players in the dugout used a monitor to see what sign the catcher gave the pitcher. If the pitch was a fastball the player at bat would receive no indication from his teammates, however, if the pitch was a breaking ball you can hear a whistle from one of the players or the sound of a bat hitting a trash can.
Alex Cora, who was the bench coach for the Astros in 2017 and the manager of the Red Sox in 2018, agreed to part ways with the Red Sox for his involvement in the scandal. There is also a separate allegation against Cora’s Red Sox in which they are accused of stealing signs in their 2018 championship season.
Cora has yet to be punished by the league, but they are prepared to discipline him more seriously compared to what the manager and the GM of the Astros received.
It leaves the fans to wonder about how different the outcomes of both the 2017 and 2018 seasons could have been. This is mainly to the fans of both the Dodgers and Yankees.
For Dodger fans, they may have been robbed of not one, but two World Series titles to the Astros and Red Sox. One player in particular that one can say was affected the most by the cheating of the teams was Clayton Kershaw due to his poor performances in crucial moments in both World Series appearances.
For Yankee fans, the majority feel that they were cheated out of a World Series appearance in 2017 and could’ve had the possibility of even winning the championship that season. The same reaction was felt this year after the Yankees lost in the seventh game of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) to the Astros in Houston’s ballpark.
This cheating scandal only adds to baseball's history of player cheating such as the use of performance-enhancing drugs. However, compared to other scandals, the players and coaches were aware of the cameras and monitors in the dugout and what they were being used for. Giving off the indication this was premeditated.
The question remains that if the players will also be disciplined for not only knowing about the cameras and monitors but continuing to comply with what the team was doing.
Many teams around the league are calling for league officials to strip the Astros of their 2017 World Series championship. Fans and teams will have to wait for league officials to come up with their decision, but the MLB is moving quickly to come up with their final verdict.
The league disciplined the team on January 13th by suspending their manager A.J. Hinch and General Manager Jeff Luhnow for a full year, the league also fined the club five million dollars and deprived them of their first and second-round picks in 2020 and 2021. Shortly after the punishments had been handed out the owner they fired both Hinch and Luhnow.
Video has been found that shows that the players in the dugout used a monitor to see what sign the catcher gave the pitcher. If the pitch was a fastball the player at bat would receive no indication from his teammates, however, if the pitch was a breaking ball you can hear a whistle from one of the players or the sound of a bat hitting a trash can.
Alex Cora, who was the bench coach for the Astros in 2017 and the manager of the Red Sox in 2018, agreed to part ways with the Red Sox for his involvement in the scandal. There is also a separate allegation against Cora’s Red Sox in which they are accused of stealing signs in their 2018 championship season.
Cora has yet to be punished by the league, but they are prepared to discipline him more seriously compared to what the manager and the GM of the Astros received.
It leaves the fans to wonder about how different the outcomes of both the 2017 and 2018 seasons could have been. This is mainly to the fans of both the Dodgers and Yankees.
For Dodger fans, they may have been robbed of not one, but two World Series titles to the Astros and Red Sox. One player in particular that one can say was affected the most by the cheating of the teams was Clayton Kershaw due to his poor performances in crucial moments in both World Series appearances.
For Yankee fans, the majority feel that they were cheated out of a World Series appearance in 2017 and could’ve had the possibility of even winning the championship that season. The same reaction was felt this year after the Yankees lost in the seventh game of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) to the Astros in Houston’s ballpark.
This cheating scandal only adds to baseball's history of player cheating such as the use of performance-enhancing drugs. However, compared to other scandals, the players and coaches were aware of the cameras and monitors in the dugout and what they were being used for. Giving off the indication this was premeditated.
The question remains that if the players will also be disciplined for not only knowing about the cameras and monitors but continuing to comply with what the team was doing.
Many teams around the league are calling for league officials to strip the Astros of their 2017 World Series championship. Fans and teams will have to wait for league officials to come up with their decision, but the MLB is moving quickly to come up with their final verdict.